Method of preparing laps for combing machines



A ril 14, 1964 c. D. BRANDT 3,128,506 METHOD OF PREPARING LAPS FOR COMBING MACHINES Filed Sept. 12, 1960 F/GZ "L f-1 I 1 iF-E id%%fii:* a a Z0 INVENTOR. I CARL D. BRANDT H6. 4 BY 7 I wbm his ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,128,506 METHOD OF PREPARING LAPS FOR COMBING MACHINES Carl D. Brandt, Whitinsville, Mass., assignor to Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Sept. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 55,531 1 Claim. (Cl. 19-115) This application is a continuation-in-part of the application filed by applicant on March 2, 1959, Serial No. 796,361, for Method of Preparing Laps for Combing Machines, and now abandoned.

This invention has for its object the provision of an improved method of preparing laps for combing machines, the laps being of such a character that combing machines to which they are supplied achieve substantially greater production than heretofore.

Combing machines in common use are incapable of handling laps of a weight much in excess of 800 grains per yard without sacrifice of quality of the combed sliverthat is, from the standpoint of cleanliness and uniformity. This is due, it seems, to the limited work capacity of the needles of the cylinder and top comb.

It has been found that very much greater production can be achieved, by the same combing machines, if they are supplied with laps prepared according to the present invention, which laps, as will later appear, are much heavier than those heretofore used but of such a character from the standpoint of the parallelism of their fibers that they do not unduly burden the combing elements.

The invention will be described more fully in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the first step of the method of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of the second and subsequent steps of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a web or lap of fibers illustrating the manner in which hooks are formed in certain of the fibers in the carding operation. The lap illustrated in FIG. 3 may be regarded as illustrative of a lap formed from one or more slivers that have been formed by the carding machine.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic and idealized illustration of the fibers of a lap after they have been combed into complete parallelism and wherein none of the fibers are hooked.

As heretofore, the starting material consists of carded slivers. It is well known that the sliver produced by the carding machine contains many fibers that are bent and thus are hook-shaped. If the head of the curve of the hook of the fiber extends in the direction that the sliver moves from the card, it is termed a leading hook. If, on the other hand, the head of the curve extends in the opposite direction, it is termed a trailing hook. It is generally recognized that card slivers contain a predominant number of trailing hooks. These hooks are indicated at A, FIG. 3.

Referring further to FIG. 3, leading hooks are indicated at B, and the reference characters indicate hooks of both types somewhat indiscriminately located in the lap. When the fibers are drafted, that is, when the web is placed under tension so that the fibers thereof slip with respect to each other in the direction of the tension, the relative movements between the fibers tend to straighten out the trailing hooks. The leading hooks, during such relative movement, do not tend to become straightened and are straightened only when the movements of fibers are in the opposite direction during the drafting operation.

It will be understood, of course, that drafting of the fibers or laps is a well-recognized operation and has, for its purpose, the positioning of the fibers in greater parallel- 3,128,506 Patented Apr. 14, 1964 ism. Thus, when the fibers of a card sliver are treated by drafting operations, it is preferable to perform at least two draftings. Since the product of the card is a sliver that is received within a can, the operation performed upon the sliver following the carding operation will draw the sliver in a direction opposite to that in which it moved through the carding machine. This is true because the end of the sliver last entering the can is the first end out. In this operation, therefore, the predominant number of hooks are leading books because these same hooks were trailing hooks issuing from the card. When these fibers are drafted, therefore, the leading hooks are unaffected and remain leading hooks, thus making it highly desirable to perform a second drafting operation upon the fibers while they are moving in an opposite direction.

According to the method of the invention, the first step consists in passing a plurality of such slivers through the draw box of a drawing frame, wherein they are given a substantial draft. The web of drafted fibers so formed is consolidated into sliver form. Next, a plurality of such slivers is passed through the draw box of a lap machine to form a ribbon of drafted fibers, the slivers in this step also receiving a substantial draft. The final step of the method consists of superposing a plurality of such ribbons to form the lap for the combing machine.

In FIG. 1 of the drawings, the reference 10 indicates the cans from which the carded slivers 11 are supplied to the draw box 12 from which they emerge in the form of a web of fibers 13. Each web is then consolidated, as by means of trumpets 14, to form slivers 15 which are coiled in cans 16.

In FIG. 2 of the drawings, an appropriate number of the cans 16 are shown supplying the slivers 15 to the draw box 17 of a form of ribbon lapper in which they are further drafted. The emerging ribbons 18 are directed along a table 19 in superposed relation to form the single lap 20 for the combing machine.

For the purpose of illustrating a specific application of the method, let it be assumed that the starting material is 54 grain card sliver (the weights referred to herein being in grains per running yard). If then, as illustrated in FIG. 1, ten such slivers are supplied to each draw box and the draw box draft is 7.7, the emerging sliver will have a weight of approximately 70 grains (54 times 10, divided by 7.7). Then if, as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings, ten such slivers are supplied to each of the six draw boxes of the ribbon lapper, with a draw box draft of 4.2, the resulting lap will have a weight of 1000 grains (70 times 10 times 6, divided by 4.2). This lap, it will be recognized, is not only much heavier than what has heretofore been considered the maximum capable of being handled by the comber, without loss of quality, but also embodies many times the usual number of doublingsactually 600 (10 times 10 times 6) as against a normal of, say, 120. And yet, as stated, the combing machine is found to be perfectly capable of handling this heavier lap and thereby proportionately increasing its production. This is due, of course, to the fact that the relatively high drafts and doublings employed in the described method produce a lap in which the fibers are already in an improved state of parallelism so that, not withstanding the increased lap weight, the combing elements are not subjected to any greater burden than when supplied with laps prepared by conventional methods. As a matter of fact, the comber is not only capable of greater production when supplied with laps prepared by the described method but, due to the different and improved treatment of the fibers in the lap, good fibers which formerly were carried along with the waste material are now retained in the combed sliver.

An important feature of this invention is the reversal of the direction of the movement of the fibers between the drawing thereof in the first operation abovementioned (in the draw box 12) and the drawing thereof in the second operation (in the draw box 17). Inasmuch as the slivers 15 are coiled in the cans 16, the next operation performed upon them will involve a reversal of the direction of movement thereof as well as a reorientation of the fibers (i.e., the ends of the fibers that were leading now become trailing ends) and, in this fashion, the trailing hooks that exist in the card sliver tend to become straightened out so that the entire fiber which contained the trailing hook lies parallel to adja cent fibers. Accordingly, the most eifective utilization of the present invention is in a process in which the slivers or laps are drafted in a plurality of draftings wherein there are an even number of reversals of the direction of movement of the fibers and wherein the orientations of the fibers in the various reversals will be opposite to each other.

As will be understood, the foregoing figures are merely illustrative. In point of fact, of course the starting material varies, because of differing fiber lengths and character and, accordingly, the weight of the card sliver varies. However, it has been found that the described advantages can be achieved with combined drafts, in the two stages of the method, in the range from 18 to 45 (not less than 6 in the first stage and not less than 2 in the second) and total doublings ranging from 320 to 800.

In the light of the foregoing exemplification of the principles of the invention, the following is claimed.

A method of increasing the productivity of a combing machine by supplying thereto a heavier, higher quality lap, comprising the steps of, simultaneously drawing with a draft or not less than 6, from 8 to 12 carded slivers in a given direction to straighten fibers bent in a predetermined manner with respect to said given direction and increase the parallelism of the fibers of said slivers, consolidating said drafted slivers to form a second sliver, combining and drawing with a draft of not less than 2, a plurality of groups of from 10 to 20 of said second slivers in a second drafting operation in a direction reverse to said given direction to straighten fibers bent in a manner opposite to said predetermined manner further to increase the parallelism of the fibers and to form simultaneously a like plurality of ribbons of drafted fibers, the total draftings being from 18 to 45, superposing said plurality of ribbons to form the lap for said combing machine, said lap having total doublings from 320 to 800 and increased parallelism of fibers, and thereafter combing said lap in said combing machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES The Textile Industries, by William S. Murphy, volume II, The Gresham Publishing Company, London, page 112. Advanced Cotton Spinning, Third Revised Edition, Thomas Thornley, Scott, Greenwood and Son, London, 1923, pages 175, 176.

Manual of Cotton Spinning, volume 4, Part One,

G.A.R. Poster, The Textile Institute, 1958, page 11.

Drawing Frames, H. H. Willis and Vernette B. Moore, The Textile Foundation, 1937, page UNITED STATES PATENT @OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,128,506 April 1 1, 1964 Carl D. Brandt It is hereby certified. that-error appeamsin the abova numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent 151101116. read a corrected below.

Column 3, line 34, for- "or'" read of column 4, line v 24, for "Lunch" read Lynch Signed and sealed this 18th day of August 1964.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST .w. w-mE-R- EDWARD J. BRENNER Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

